How to Create Your Own Website (It’s Easy!)

If I were writing this guide 10 years ago (or even 5!), it would be super loooong and complicated with a gazillion steps on how to create web pages, use HTML to code things, and use Photoshop to create a logo and graphics.

Lucky for you, this isn’t 10 years ago. It’s TODAY and it’s actually super easy to create your own website!

There are a lot of different platforms you can use including Wix, Weebly and Squarespace, to name a few. BUT, I don’t recommend any of those. They’re easy enough to start with but super limited when it comes to design and functionality options and you’ll end up very frustrated, very quickly.

So instead, I always tell people to use WordPress! It’s a free platform (you will need to pay for hosting – more info on that below) and it lets you do anything and everything with the design and usability of your site.

Here’s a step-by-step guide for how to create your own website THIS week (and have it look like a pro did it).

Step #1: Choose your website name

Your website name will be your domain name (like www.mywebsitename.com).

Choosing a name often trips up newbies, but it doesn’t have to be complicated! Here are a few dos & don’ts for choosing a website name:

DO: Use your business name. If you already have a business, this is the obvious choice.

DO: Use a name that describes your website topic or audience. This helps make it crystal clear what your site is all about. My site – SmartMomBlogger.com – uses this method.

DO: Use your own name. This is a great choice if you are a coach, consultant, or want to establish a personal brand. Here are a few websites that use this method: MarieForleo.com and ChrisPowell.com

DON’T: Use numbers, dashes, or alternate spellings in your blog domain name. This makes it hard for people to remember or type your domain name (or even get it right in the first place).

DON’T: Be too clever or cutesy. Even though you may “get it”, someone else might not. It’s too confusing and can make people feel like they’re not “part of the club”.

Step #2: Set up a self-hosted website

Alright – here we go! In this step, you’ll be setting up your hosting account and installing WordPress. If you’re not tech-savvy, don’t worry! It’s a lot easier than it sounds & I’ll walk you through it all, step-by-step.

Every website requires hosting in order to be “live” on the internet. Don’t worry too much about the technical details – just follow along with the screenshots and instructions below and you’ll be on your way!

Set up your hosting

Click here to get set up with website hosting from Siteground. While you can use whichever hosting provider you choose (there are hundreds available), I use and recommend Siteground because they’re super affordable, reliable, and have excellent customer service. You can get start your own blog for just $3.95 per month.

Select the StartUp plan

It’s the cheapest and will work great for a new website. You can upgrade later if needed if your business or website traffic grows, but for now, the StartUp plan is perfect.

Choose or transfer website domain name

Enter your website name (from Step #1) right here! If you already have a domain name that you purchased somewhere else already (like GoDaddy), just click the “I already have a Domain” option and SiteGround will transfer it to your account for free (another reason why I love them!).

Enter account info and payment details

Next, you’ll need to enter your account details and credit card information. Be sure to pay attention to the options at the bottom and check/uncheck the upgrades as desired.

Unlike many other hosting providers, SiteGround discounts apply to any of the initial periods chosen during the sign-up process, which is a great bonus (most other hosting providers only apply the discounts to the longest sign-up periods, costing you unnecessary extra upfront expenses).

Step #3: Install WordPress on your new hosting account

Once you’ve created your hosting account, it’s time to actually install your website. In this step, you’ll install WordPress on your new hosting account. The really cool part about this is that SiteGround does it for you for free! It’s yet another reason I use and recommend them.

Just contact SiteGround via chat after you set up your hosting account and let them know you’d like their free WordPress website installation service on your new hosting account. They’ll be happy to do it for you and you can save yourself the time and hassle of doing it yourself (especially if you’re not techie). You’ll get an email once it’s completed (typically in under 48 hours).

If you want to do it yourself instead, you can just select the “WordPress” option from your cPanel once you log in to your new account (will look like the screenshot below), and follow the on-screen prompts.

Once you get word from SiteGround that your site has been installed, that means your new blog is LIVE!

Step #4: Choose a Design Theme

Once you view your new website, you’ll see that it has a basic look or “design” to it. This is called a “theme” and you can change it to look like whatever you want!

WordPress has thousands of free and premium designs to choose from, and you can try several out to see what matches the overall style and feel you want for your business.

To access all the themes and back-end “dashboard” area of your website, you can log in at www.yourwebsitename.com/wp-admin (just add the /wp-admin after your website name in the url). You’ll also get an email from SiteGround with this info, so make sure you file it away so you can access it whenever you need it.

Once inside your dashboard, you’ll see a menu on the left side with all your options. Click Appearance > Themes > Add New to view and test different designs.

This is the fun part! Don’t obsess over things or try to make it perfect (not gonna happen anyway), but give yourself some time – a couple hours or so – to play around with designs and customize your website to look awesome.

If you need to find stunning imagery for your website, try a site like Pexels or Pixabay which have thousands of free, high-quality images.

Step #5: Publish & Publicize!

Once you’ve found a design you love and have all your website copy dialed in, it’s time to publish that design! Go you! It looks fab 😉

And don’t forget to share your new pro-looking website with the world! Here are a few ways you can publicize your website and business:

Email your list

Share on your social media

Use Facebook ads

Create Pins for Pinterest

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Spread the word in person to friends, family and acquaintances

After all, the whole “If you build it they will come” concept works great in the movies, but not so much on the world wide web. You’ve gotta get the word out!

Conclusion

If you’re wondering how to create your own website or are intimidated by the thought of it – don’t be! By following the steps outlined above you can absolutely do this.

If you have questions or need help, let me know in the comments below.

If you found this guide helpful, please share on Facebook or Pinterest! When my readers share my content, my blog grows. I’m so grateful!

GET YOUR FREE $100 AFFILIATE MARKETING CHEAT SHEET FOR BLOGGERS

Discover the “Affiliate Marketing Profit Equation” you need to plan your first $100 in blog revenue + 3 affiliate programs that'll get you there quick!

Want easy-access to 5 passive income affiliate programs to boost your blog income? You’re in the right place – read on!

Blogging is fun and all, but at some point you’re going to want to actually some make money at it, am I right?

So let’s get rolling with some Affiliate Marketing! IMHO, it’s the #1 best place to start because it’s super low-hassle and low maintenance.

No products to create or store, no services to provide (huge time suck!), no customer service to provide and no need for huge amounts of traffic.

You just need to create helpful, value-packed content (read: not sales-ey) that clearly explains the benefits of the product, and be sure to use your affiliate link so you get the commission. This content can be in the form of blog posts, tutorials, emails, social media posts, videos or anything else you can think up!

Here’s a short list of some of the best affiliate programs to boost your blog income:

Each of the 5 programs below can be applied to many different blog niches and have at least 20% (or $25) commission! Be sure to download your free $100 Affiliate Marketing Cheat Sheet to use the profit equation to easily plan, calculate and predict your income!

1. CreativeLive Affiliate Program

CreativeLive is an online platform that hosts tons of top-quality classes taught by experts in their field. From family photography to online business to personal growth and so much more, there is something for almost everyone.

Program Highlights:

20% commission on new customer purchases

10% commission on return customer purchases

$1 lead payout for every new member registration (this means when someone signs up top their free email list, you still get paid!)

30-day tracking cookie

Large selection of text links and banners

Newsletters with program updates, promotions, contests and incentive opportunities

2. Craftsy Affiliate Program

Craftsy is an online platform for creatives, aspiring creatives, and families who want to encourage a culture of exploration and creativity. From physical products like project kits for kids and baking supplies, to craft, creative and family online classes, Craftsy is a perfect affiliate program for Family/Parenting Bloggers and Craft/Creative Bloggers.

Program Highlights:

75% of first-time class or DVD purchases by new customers

15% of class or DVD purchase by existing customers

15% of physical product purchases by new customers

4% of physical product purchases by existing customers

$5 Bluprint trial signup (similar to the CreativeLive program above, you get paid even when someone signs up for free)

Most bundles are only available once a year, so there’s a built-in sense of urgency when you tell your readers about them (increases sales)

Huge value for your readers since the bundles are 90%-98% off the retail price of the products

Top-quality affiliate marketing training built right in. In my opinion, this is one of the biggest perks to the program: they give you access to an entire course on affiliate marketing including videos, swipe files, email templates and more.

4. Ebates Affiliate Program

Ebates is a website that pays you cashback on purchases you make online and is a perfect to promote to your readers if you are a budget, lifestyle or mom blogger.

Program Highlights:

You get $25 for every qualifying referral you send through your affiliate link

You gift your readers with $10 automatically when they sign up through your link

Vacation Giveaways for affiliates! As of this email, the current giveaway is the Maui Prize Package and includes Roundtrip airfare for 4 (up to $4,000 value), a 5-night stay at the Fairmont Kea Lani ($4,000 value), Roundtrip transportation to and from airport, and Food and entertainment stipend!

5. Elite Marketing Pro Affiliate Program

Elite Marketing Pro is an online training program for people who are doing (or want to do) a Network Marketing business (eg. Arbonne, DoTerra, Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, etc.). It teaches them how to generate leads and sales online so they don’t have to harass friends and family to try and grow their business.

Program Highlights:

20% – 70% commission on every sale (depending on which affiliate level you are)

Lots of free resources and training you can offer your readers that lead right into a sales funnel for effortless sales.

Residual income potential. This perk is HUGE! This means that you get recurring commissions month-after-month on autopilot.

To sign up for the Elite Marketing Pro affiliate program, you first need to be a customer, but the entry-level product is only $27 so it’s definitely worth it if you have an audience of readers who are interested in starting a side-hustle or working from home since the commissions are so generous and you get recurring income every month.

And that’s a wrap! You may not be able to use ALL of these affiliate programs on your blog, but I’m willing to bet that at least ONE of them will work for you!

And that’s really where you should start anyhow… with ONE affiliate program. If you try to incorporate a gazillion affiliate programs into your blog all at once, it’s going to get confusing and overwhelming… to you AND your readers.

💡 Also… the best thing that can happen to a bad idea is that it’s forgotten. The best thing that can happen to a good idea is that it’s shared. If you liked this post, I’d be so grateful if you shared it on Pinterest, Facebook or however you like to share good ideas best!

Pin this to share and access later!

GET YOUR FREE $100 AFFILIATE MARKETING CHEAT SHEET FOR BLOGGERS

Discover the “Affiliate Marketing Profit Equation” you need to plan your first $100 in blog revenue + 3 affiliate programs that'll get you there quick!

IMPORTANT: If you want to learn how I’m growing my own network marketing business ONLINE and getting leads from the internet (instead of constantly hounding my friends and family), you should grab this free “Attraction Marketing Bootcamp”.

If you’re looking to make money from home or start your own home-based business, Network Marketing is a fantabulous option.

Become surrounded by a community of ambitious people that elevate your life

No cap on earning potential (make as much as you want)

The ability to make a real impact on others’ lives through training and mentorship

There are SO MANY more advantages and life benefits to owning a network marketing business, and as I write this quick list above it makes me realize that I need to write a whole blog post on it (“Why Every Busy Mom NEEDS To Start a Network Marketing Business”… working title ;)).

Okay, that’s a post for another day. If you’re reading this I’m going to assume you already WANT to start a Network Marketing business, or are at least curious and interested, so I’ll move on to the good stuff!

I’ve combed through a BUNCH of different companies (hundreds!) and compiled this list of what I feel to be the 87 absolute best network marketing companies for moms. (I also made a downloadable PDF for you so you can reference it anytime… just sign up to get it for free below 🙂

I chose the below as the “best Network Marketing Companies” for 2 reasons:

1. Consumable Product Line

If you’re starting a product-based business, you want a consumable product line. All this means is that once someone runs out of something, they’re going to need to buy more. These are things like skin care, nutrition, and cosmetics (as opposed to things like jewelry, handbags or kitchenware).

If you start a consumable product network marketing business, you will earn residual income as people continually re-order more products month after month. In my opinion, this is really the only way to go if you’re looking to get the most profit out of the time you put in to your business.

I’d also highly recommend choosing a company that gives you your own website that people can purchase products directly from so you don’t have to carry any inventory. Most forward-thinking network marketing companies are operated this way these days, so this shouldn’t be hard to find.

2. Relevant Product Line

Since 99% of my readers are moms (not an actual statistic, but probably spot on), the network marketing companies I chose are ones with products that I feel most moms would be interested in.

For example, skin care, essential oils, food-based products, nutrition, and health and wellness as opposed to body-building supplements or legal services. Not that there aren’t some moms that are in to that stuff (cooler moms than me for sure), but I tried to keep it generally applicable to the majority of moms.

And even with that said, a few made it on to the list that aren’t particularly “mom-ish” but that looked too cool to leave off (like a Jerky company and a Pet products company). Okay, let’s jump in!

87 Best Network Marketing Companies for Moms

As noted below, I am a consultant for and personally recommend Arbonne and Monat. I have not researched each brand on this list in depth and, as always, please do your own research before joining any business opportunity.

**I am an Arbonne consultant and currently accepting new team members. If you’d like to join my team and receive personal coaching and training from me, click here to sign up. Then click > About Arbonne > Your Opportunity > Start Your Arbonne Business Today (green button).

And there you have it! My picks for the 87 best Network Marketing companies for moms. I’d love to hear which company you decide to partner with… let me know in the comments and let’s chat network marketing!

👇This is the training I’m following to grow my business online, and I HIGHLY recommend it!👇

I was pregnant with my first baby and at my 20-week appointment. I had just finished telling my doctor that I was feeling extremely exhausted and a bit dizzy.

“Cheerios.”, I told her, with all the confidence in the world that she’d be proud of my healthy choice.

“That’s it?”, she asked. “Well, yeah,” I thought to myself. “Isn’t that enough?”

Apparently it wasn’t. She told me that I needed to be eating at least 15-20 grams of protein with my breakfast to give me the energy I needed to sustain me until my next meal. Cheerios wasn’t going to cut it.

And that’s not just the case with pregnancy. Turns out, consuming enough protein with every meal is a crucial part of a healthy diet and lifestyle. From helping you to feel fuller, longer to fat burning to bone health to lower blood pressure and so much more, sufficient protein is a MUST for a healthy diet, and especially important for breakfast.

A 5-second Google or Pinterest search will deliver a gazillion high-protein breakfast recipes, but let’s get into the season a bit, shall we? Let’s chai this baby up!

Here are 6 healthy, high-protein chai recipes that are perfect for cozy fall breakfasts. The recipes are also vegan, gluten-free and 100% delicious.

(I made you a quick-reference recipe sheet that you can print and post on your fridge for chai-flavored inspo all Fall-long. Grab it for free below!)

Add all ingredients to an air tight container and whisk together until incorporated. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours (or overnight). Divide between two bowls and top with coconut whipped cream, if desired.

*The protein powder I use for our family (and for these recipes) is a naturally flavored chai plant-based protein from Arbonne. You can use any protein powder you like, however, I do not know if the recipes will turn out the same. But half of the joy of cooking is experimentation, right? Have fun in the kitchen!

Off-Season Tip: The Chai protein powder is seasonal and made in limited quantities, so if you come across this article outside of the season and it isn’t available, you can use Vanilla Protein Powder instead (or your own fave) and add chai seasoning!

Hope you enjoy these healthy and delicious high-protein chai breakfast recipes as much as I do! Let me know your favorite in the comments below 🙂

“Disciplined people are more successful and happy”. Agree or disagree? We’ll come back to that…

Have you ever set a goal, gotten all excited and motivated, committed to it with every fiber of your being (Yes I WILL lose 20 pounds… Yes I WILL learn to play the guitar this year… Yes I WILL start and grow a profitable blog)… then gave up when the fire died, or it got too hard, or it took too long, or someone told you you couldn’t do it?

Has that happened to you more than once? Does it feel like it keeps happening to you?

If so, I soooo feel you.

I mean, I set SMART goals, plan it all out on paper and put it all into my calendar down to the last nitty-gritty detail.

But then I feel like I have to FIGHT SO HARD to NOT give up on my goals. I go through seasons of total unstoppable fire and then other seasons of feeling tired, bored, lazy and like my goals are silly and I should just watch Netflix instead.

What’s with this?! It’s frustrating, isn’t it?

We really want this thing. Not just kind of, but really really REALLY want it. So why the heck do we keep giving up?!

Turns out, it comes down to one word: DISCIPLINE.

Because the big secret I realized is this: MOTIVATION doesn’t last. I wish it did, because oh mama, doesn’t it feel like you’re on an amazing high when you’re motivated?!

You feel like you can take on the world! You feel like you can make a million bucks! You feel like you can walk into any room and OWN IT.

But then, you wake up the next day after a long night with a sick baby, and out of the corner of your eye you catch the huge pile of laundry staring at you from the open hall closet, and all of a sudden all of your fiery motivation is shot to hell.

Too dramatic? Nah, I think you feel me.

“Yeah, that’s great Candis. Glad you had this epiphany and all”, you’re saying, “but I already know I need to be more disciplined. I’m just… NOT.”

Okay, I hear you. I totally get it. Me neither. But we ain’t dead yet, sister!

What we are not yet, we can still become.

Once upon a time, scientists believed that our brains – and therefore our personalities, traits, habits and preferences – were hard-wired after childhood, unable to grow or change. But in recent decades, scientists and psychologists have discovered that our brains can continue to grow and change throughout our lives as a result of our interactions with our environment.

This concept is called “neuroplasticity”, and in short, it means we can change our habits and traits if we want to! We are not destined to stay in this seemingly endless cycle of motivation-rut-motivation-rut. Studies show that there’s a legitimate trick to getting yourself unstuck:

You need to set up a SYSTEM for your success.

In the eye-opening article “How to Motivate Yourself”, Stanford Behavior Scientist, BJ Fogg, shares that motivation comes in waves. We shouldn’t RELY on motivation alone, but instead leverage it to act right away in setting up a SYSTEM so we can be successful even when it fades:

“We should assume that our “future self” is going to be lazy with no motivation. We need to set up systems to make achieving our goals as easy as possible — even when our motivation is low.” For example, I was trying to form a gym habit. I’d get up in the morning planning to go, but after a few minutes decide not to. I discovered that if I put my gym clothes and my shoes next to my bed, I would put them on first thing and by that point, I “might as well” just go.

And this is what brings me to Shelby.

When I found myself stalling in my new business, constantly trying new strategies halfheartedly and whisking from one new tactic to the next without following through, I turned to my teammate Shelby Putnam.

From the moment I met her, it was clear that Shelby was an insanely disciplined person. Like WHOA disciplined.

She had her health and business goals down and took DAILY action in her business.

And even though the healthy living program is designed to make weight loss as easy as possible, the plain truth is that not everyone sticks with it. You don’t get these kinds of results unless you are committed and disciplined.

I mean, how many times have you sworn to yourself that you were going to eat healthy only to throw in the towel when hubby brought home Magnum chocolate ice cream bars? Ahem, not that that’s ever happened to me. Okay, maybe it has… moving on.

What’s more, Shelby was swiftly promoted to the next level in the business within months after starting and her business is exploding more and more every time we meet up or chat.

This month, she’s in the TOP 10 on our whole team (among hundreds of people) for personal sales and recruiting! That’s just crazy, y’all. I mean, I’m a California girl born and raised and I just said “y’all”. That’s gotta show you how impressed I am.

I mean, this girl has it figured out.

So a couple weeks ago I reached out to her and begged her to let me in on her secrets! Seriously, I left her an out-of-the-blue voice message on Voxer and was like, “Girl, tell me how you’re so freaking disciplined! Share your hacks, tips and secrets!”

(Well, the actual message was like 5 minutes long because I ramble, but that was the gist.)

Turns out this powerhouse was a 5x National Champion gymnast on the USA team and had the virtue of discipline instilled in her from a very young age.

Her tips were so helpful to me personally that I asked her if she’d let me share them with all of you! And of course she said yes, because she’s awesome like that (video interview below).

And you wanna know the really crazy thing? All of the 5 discipline hacks she shares lead to the same conclusion that the science shows: if you lack self-discipline, you need to set up a SYSTEM for yourself to succeed.

“Yeah, but how the heck do you DO THAT?? I mean, what, specifically, do you mean by setting up a system?”, you’re asking.

Watch our interview below to hear from Shelby herself. You can also scroll down below the video to get the bullet-points.

Okay, without further ado, get ready for some game-changing life advice!

1. Map it out and Set It Up

For her 30-day healthy living challenge, Shelby wrote out on her physical calendar her entire 30 days of shakes, meals and workouts ahead of time.

She also put out all of the products she needed and set up a meal delivery service for her family so she wouldn’t be tempted at the grocery store or when cooking things she couldn’t eat. This will look different for you depending on your goals, resources and weaknesses, but basically you need to set up your environment for success.

2. Positive Self-Talk

“I am a huge self-talker and I think it makes a huge difference in my discipline. Every morning when I wake up, I tell myself that I love myself, my body is beautiful, I got this, and I can do this. Even if I don’t feel this way, I say it. Because when I say it, it makes me believe it.”

Sound to foo-foo for you? Thing is, we all talk to ourselves whether we like to believe it or not:

“We all hold internal conversations as we go through our days, and sometimes our nights. Psychologists have identified one important type of these inner monologues as “self-talk,” in which you provide opinions and evaluations on what you’re doing as you’re doing it. When this is upbeat and self-validating, the results can boost your productivity. However, when the voice is critical and harsh, the effect can be emotionally crippling.” – Psychology Today

So Shelby’s not the only one who’s discovered the effectiveness of this practice. Psychological studies have shown that constructive self-talk is correlated with higher performance, improved creativity, better leadership and overall improved happiness and self-esteem.

3. Have Visual Cues: Positive Notes and Visual Goals

To keep herself motivated to stick with the healthy living program, Shelby left notes of encouragement for herself around her calendar, work area, mirrors and pretty much all over her house!

To keep herself progressing daily in her business, she has her next-level business goals posted in plain sight, along with her income producing activities for each day.

4. Accountability Partner

“Honestly, one of the biggest things that helped me was that I literally checked in with Jessica (our team leader) every.single.day. I’d Vox her and say, “Hey Jessica! I did this today for my 30 days! I did my 2 teas! I did my shakes! I did this! I did that!”. So I think having that person to check in with every day helped to solidify it in my brain. I knew I’d have to check in and give a report.”

And she’s not wrong. The American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) did a study on accountability and found that if you have a specific accountability appointment with a person you’ve committed to, your chances for success goes up to 95%! Now that’s just downright cray-cray.

(I can attest to this in my own experience as well. My year-long journey to losing 38 pounds after baby #4 only worked because I had an accountability partner to work out with every day until it became a habit. My latest burst in business development and writing consistency? A result of a 21-day accountability challenge a teammate and I agreed on. And this very article you’re reading on my blog only got finished because I had an appointment with Shelby to do the interview and I told her I’d have the outline done before our interview. Accountability is where it’s at!).

5. Make the Decision

“Lastly, when I make up my mind, I make up my mind. When I decide I’m going to do something, I go all in and go for it.”

You might be tempted to dismiss this last one as fluffy, but it’s absolutely essential.

In fact, it’s so important that business and network marketing mogul, Eric Worre, cites this as the #1 “secret” or thing that determines success:

“Success starts with making a decision. A decision that you are going pro, a decision that you are going to the top no matter what. And that decision starts with you and your commitment to becoming a professional. A decision that says “No matter the set backs I might face and no matter the challenge, I am going to the top.”

So make your decision. What will you accomplish? Decide which outcome you want, work your butt off to get it, and keep your promise to yourself every.single.day.

So let’s bring this all back around. Are disciplined people happier and more successful? Study upon study shows that it’s true.

But at the very least, you can use the virtue of discipline in your own life to FINALLY reach your goals, whatever they may be.

Don’t have one yet? Then you MUST watch this 2-minute video… and then read my last 3 sentences below the video.

After watching this, I bet you feel so motivated and fired up for life and big goals and dreams that you feel like you can take on the world!

But you know that won’t last, right? So right now – in this moment – take the 5 tips you learned above on how to become insanely disciplined and go write out your #1 goal, make a plan, and set up a SYSTEM so you can’t lose.

YOU’RE WORTH IT.

P.S. Yes, I joined a Network Marketing company! Adding another stream of income to my blog 😉 LOVE network marketing for us busy mom bloggers, so let me know if you have any questions about it!